This is one of the unions’ demands: to reduce the number of students in order to improve the quality of education and working conditions. Faced with this, a question arises: are teachers badly off in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation? What is financeable in practice, and what would be the effects? We went to classes to better understand the situation.
This year, in Madame Annick’s first nursery class, there are 24 students, the maximum authorized by the decree. This teacher estimates that she can manage 24 children aged 3 to 4 years old alone, but this represents a daily challenge. “These are 24 children, 24 different personalities“, she explains.
Madame Annick has been taking care of little ones for 34 years now. She notes an evolution: the number of students tends to decrease, but children today have different needs. “Children evolve with society, so we must constantly adapt to its changes and to the needs different from those I knew at the time”she specifies.
The number of students per class is set in a decree: a maximum of 24 students from kindergarten to 2nd primary, and 28 students from 3rd to 6th. In secondary school, this figure can reach up to 32 students per class.
Standards which, on the ground, are sometimes difficult to respect. Last year, Madame Julie had a full first grade class with 24 students. “We have more and more children with real difficulties who need our attention. And with 24 students, it’s impossible to take care of everyone. Unfortunately, some receive less attention, not because they are neglected“, she notes.
In this class, noise-canceling headphones attract our attention. They clearly illustrate the atmosphere that sometimes reigns in class. “We tend to say that teachers have a good life, with great hours, etc. But you should know that it is a profession in shortage. This is quite revealing…“, she gets annoyed.
The established standards do not seem to correspond to the reality on the ground. We have already heard this union observation. By digging through our archives, we found documents dating back more than thirty years.
Really bad off?
Faced with this observation, a question arises: are French-speaking Belgian teachers really so badly off? To better understand the numerical evolution of the situation, we contacted the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Surprisingly: the data is not collected.
However, we managed to find figures thanks to Dominique Lafontaine, professor emeritus in educational sciences and specialist on the issue.
According to international studies, our classes are, on average, less populated than those of our neighbors. Let’s take an example: the French course in Secondary 4. Here, there are 21 students on average, compared to 31 in France.
“From a strictly comparative point of view, we cannot say that we are in a much more unfavorable situation than elsewhere, nor that this would justify measures to drastically reduce class sizes.“, explains Dominique Lafontaine.
-It would therefore seem unnecessary to reduce class sizes. And yet, other studies show that by limiting the number of students, the quality of teaching increases.
In this 4th technical secondary class, there are 12 students. A comfortable figure for Didier, a teacher for 20 years. Last year, however, this class had double the number, making the teaching very different.
“At 24, I spent more time playing police and yelling. Whereas at 11 or 12, I can go see each student individually. (…) But hey, we try to have as many students as possible. The more you have, the better, especially for school“, explains Didier.
Why does Didier consider that having more students is better for the school? To better understand, we went to interview the director of her establishment.
You should know that schools are funded based on the number of students. It is therefore an almost schizophrenic exercise. On the one hand, there must be a sufficient number of registrations to guarantee funding. On the other hand, we must avoid overcrowded classes in order to relieve teachers.
Stéphanie Callens, director of the Saint-Gabriel Technical Institute, specifies: “When we have 25 students per class, we supervise them less well than when we have 15. (…) Each management would like to welcome a large number of students at the start of the school year, but at the same time, it is complicated to work with the hours assigned and respect all standards”.
To truly improve the quality of teaching, studies show that the number of students per class would have to be drastically reduced. But it is a financially and structurally untenable solution. “This would mean classes of 10 to 15 students. However, we do not have the teachers needed for this, particularly at certain levels and in certain subjects. And, on the other hand, it would be extremely expensive.”underlines Dominique Lafontaine.
A class of 15 students would, however, have two major advantages: reducing social inequalities by half and improving the working conditions of teachers. But this dream remains unaffordable today, despite the demands of the teaching staff.
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